In the late summer of 1914 the most powerful
countries in Europe went to war. By the time the fighting stopped. Four years
later, 20 million people had been killed. Why did this disastrous war start? In
1919 the countries on the winning side met together and said that the war had
been Germany's fault.

Was the War the fault of the German
government?

Historians have identified a number of
long-term and short-term causes of the war:

The Rise of Germany

Until the middle of the nineteenth century
Germany was divided into many separate states. The most important of these
German states was a kingdom called Prussia. In the 1860s the leaders of Prussia
wanted to unite Germany. France was unhappy about this and went to war against
Prussia from 1870 to 1871.

France was beaten and the victorious Prussian
government was able to set up a new German Empire. This was a massive new state
that included most German-speaking people. Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, was
declared to be the emperor or Kaiser of Germany. His chief minister, Bismarck,
became the powerful Chancellor of Germany.

Between 1871 and 1914 the economy of the new
German state went from strength to strength. This was based on an amazing
industrial revolution and by 1914 the output of German factories had overtaken
the output of British factories.

Chancellor Bismarck was very skilful. After
1870 he stopped the German government from getting involved in any more wars.
France was the sworn enemy of Germany but Bismarck made sure that France
remained isolated.

As long as he was in charge of German foreign
policy there was no danger of Germany going to war against Russia or Britain.
This all changed when Germany got a new Kaiser- Wilhelm II - and Bismarck lost
the chancellorship.

The New Kaiser

Now that Germany was the equal of Britain in
terms of wealth and industry, some German people felt that their country should
have a worldwide empire like Britain. One German who believed this was the new
ruler of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who came to power in 1888. He made Bismarck
retire in 1890.

Wilhelm wanted a new, more aggressive approach
to the rest of the world. He ended the friendly relationship that Bismarck had
encouraged between Germany and Russia. As a result of his attitude, other
countries began to see Germany as a threat.

The two alliances

Germany signed a treaty of alliance with
Austria-Hungary in 1879. The two states remained allies in the decades that
followed. At first the only likely enemy of this alliance was France. However,
Wilhelm's clumsy policy encouraged Russia to join forces with France. In 1892
France and Russia agreed to an alliance: if either country was attacked by
Germany, the other state would go to war against the Germans.

The government of Britain began to look around
for allies at the turn of the century. British politicians thought about an
alliance with Germany against France and Russia. However, German policy under
the Kaiser was so badly managed that Britain felt forced to look to France and
Russia.

Britain established friendly relations with
France in 1904 and Russia in 1907. The link was not an official alliance but an
'entente' or understanding that the countries would try to work together.
People talked of the Triple Entente: an anti-German grouping of France, Russia
and Britain.

The Arms Race

After 1897, the German government started
building up an enormous navy that could challenge the might of the British
navy. The Germans knew that a worldwide empire would have to be defended by a
worldwide navy.

The German government passed a law in 1900
ordering the building of a huge new fleet of 40 battleships and 60 cruisers.
The British responded energetically to this threat by increasing the size of
their navy. They introduced a new type of powerful battleship called a
'Dreadnought' in 1906. The Germans responded by building similar ships of their
own. The British went on to order even more substantial battleships called
'Super Dreadnoughts'.

Other countries also took part in this arms
race. The French increased their forces and by 1914 had an army of nearly 4
million soldiers. The Russians spent a fortune on military railways that were
clearly designed to take troops to fight Germany and Austria-Hungary. Russian
spending on its army was huge. People in Germany feared that this mighty force
would one day flatten Berlin.

The crisis in Europe: summer 1914

By January 1914 the situation in Europe was
tense. Between January and August a number of short-term causes led to the
outbreak of war.

The Killing in Sarajevo

The city of Sarajevo in Bosnia was the center
of world attention in June 1914. Bosnia was part of Austria-Hungary but many of
its people were Serbs who wanted to be ruled by the neighboring state of
Serbia. On 28 June 1914 a Serb called Gavrilo Princip shot dead the Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife.

The killing of the Archduke was linked to a
bitter dispute between Austria-Hungary and the state of Serbia. Austria-Hungary
was looking for an excuse for a war against Serbia.

Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the murder
and got ready to attack.

The system of alliances led to several other
countries becoming involved in the outbreak of war between Austria-Hungary and
Serbia. While Austria-Hungary was allied to Germany, Serbia was closely linked
to Russia. The government of Austria-Hungary looked to Germany for help. Serbia
expected Russian help.

The Russians, in turn, hoped for support from
France and Britain. In this way, the killing at Sarajevo made possible a wider
war which would involve all the powerful countries of Europe.

The German Decision for War

In 1913 there had been another argument
between Austria-Hungary and Serbia and Russia about how land taken from Turkey
should be divided. This nearly led to war between the two alliances. It had not
because the German government refused to support Austria-Hungary.

A year later the German policy changed. On 5
July 1914 the Kaiser gave his full backing for an Austrian attack on Serbia.
Austria-Hungary would not have risked war without help from their more powerful
ally. The German government knew that there was a good chance that Russia would
go to war on the side of Serbia, and that the result would be a general war.

In the following weeks of crisis the German
government did more than offer support. It urged Austria-Hungary to make sure
that war broke out. When Britain and Russia tried to get Austria-Hungary to
negotiate, Germany told her ally to ignore these attempts to stop the war.

Confusion About the British Position

The Germans were not sure whether the British
would fight. If the British had made clear their determination to fight, the
German leaders might have thought again about the war. The position of the
British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, was not complicated. Although
Britain had links with France and Russia there was no of formal alliance.
Legally, Britain was not bound to go war on the side of France and Russia.

As the crisis developed, senior civil servants
urged Grey to say that Britain would definitely side with France and Russia.
They hoped that an announcement like this would frighten the Germans into
stepping back from war. Grey disagreed.

He wanted to try to avoid war by negotiating.
Talks continued right up to 3 August when Germany attacked France via Belgium.
At this point Britain stopped talking and, a day later, went to war.